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MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION <br /> Monday,September 21,2020 <br /> 6:00 o'clock p.m. <br /> Ms. Curtis said she's not sure what the distinction is, it might just be new bituminous as it's an As-Built <br /> survey from the home's construction,noting sometimes the surveyors like to get creative with their <br /> textures. <br /> Erickson asked if Mr. Enger has any comments regarding bicycle traffic or pedestrians. <br /> Mr. Enger said there are kids in the neighborhood with bikes and adults who walk regularly and there are <br /> many pedestrians that walk past the property every day. <br /> Erickson said in reading the Staff report, he finds that the Applicants make a strong argument, identifying <br /> safety,the busy roadway,the property's unique design, slope and driveway as Practical Difficulties. He <br /> finds that very convincing and there is also supporting documentation. It should be noted the homeowner <br /> has significant neighborhood support as well, but to Erickson, it is the Practical Difficulties that he feels <br /> are unique to the property;therefore he is inclined to support the variance. <br /> Libby said for the same reasons Erickson and the Applicant articulated, he supports this. He noted he is <br /> fortunate enough to have a driveway that is large enough to turn around and drive out and his habit is to <br /> back out because he has the space and visibility to do that. Because the new development has had such <br /> heavy traffic,both from construction and new residents, he tends to turn around and go out facing the <br /> street so he has that peripheral visibility in both directions. He supports the Staffs decision on this <br /> because he thinks it's very practical and a safety issue. <br /> Chair Ressler noted he believes Staff recommended denial. <br /> Libby said it was Practical Difficulty. <br /> Chair Ressler clarified Commissioner Libby feels Practical Difficulty has been met for approval. <br /> Gettman added that the Applicant was kind enough to answer his question,which is"who is to blame," <br /> and found out it was the designer when they were out West. <br /> Mr. Enger noted he did a good job on the rest of the house. <br /> Kirchner said hindsight is always 20/20 and having just built a home 12-18 months ago, it is hard to <br /> imagine every minor detail and he understands that within the overall task of building and designing a <br /> home, he sees how a driveway may be overlooked. He noted although he is not typically one to support <br /> any bit of deviation in making hardcover worse, he believes there are Practical Difficulties here and he <br /> can empathize based on his law enforcement career with the safety of backing onto a road. He believes <br /> the Applicant has demonstrated line-of-sight issues and for those reasons he would support this one. <br /> Chair Ressler said this long lot is difficult to navigate,they can't make the driveway any smaller and they <br /> can't take space from the existing driveway to create room for a turnaround, unless they wanted to drive <br /> through grass to get to the road. He said he will caution the Applicant the Commission has had these <br /> applications before on Casco Point Road in recent memory that have been denied,which is most likely <br /> where Staff finds their recommendation because of that. Chair Ressler can see this one is a bit different <br /> because in other applications there were ways to make things work and it wasn't a turnaround situation. <br /> Therefore, he is in support of the variance application because of the turnaround and he doesn't believe <br /> there is another way to do it. <br /> Page 15 of 27 <br />